Kamloops council settles on 4.92 per cent tax increase, approves supplementary budget items

“Two and a half per cent of that is the cost of policing in Kamloops — both an increase in the average wage of a police officer and the retroactive [payments],” said Mayor Ken Christian.

“That is something certainly that myself and council believe is worth it,” he said.

The money will also go towards hiring more officers.

Last year the tax increase was less than one per cent.

“Council’s goal was really to provide a tax break, so to speak, to the public. So the less-than-one per cent didn’t reflect the entire increase in cost of providing services,” said Kathy Humphrey, Director of Corporate Services for the city.

“We just deferred doing some of the stuff that we needed to pick up this year.”

The City acknowledges taxpayers may feel it’s a huge increase. They say the raise is necessary to maintain the level of services for the city.

“We build the budget of off the services that council has approved and those are generally services and activities that the citizens want,” said Humphrey.

“We do our best to find as much cost savings as we can and to find grants to offset capital projects. I think the staff and the people that run all the different departments did a really good job on trying to bring it in as low as they possibly could.”

“If you back that two and a half per cent [for policing] out it’s a pretty typical tax year in Kamloops,” said Christian.

As for supplemental budget items, there were 12 items up for discussion.

Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) funding strategy

The city will introduce a Climate Action Levy of 0.35 per cent to annual civic taxation funding.

Online feedback was overwhelmingly in support of adding the levy.

This increase means the city would have specific funds set aside to fund CCAP actions, rather than relying on other funding like grants to fund one-off climate projects.

“Even though people may be angry that the tax rate is going to be higher than they want, the reality is that the climate is going to be worse than they want,” said Councillor Dale Bass.

Full-time employees

Two new full-time employees will be hired after today’s budget discussions.

The first was what the list called a “full-time employee to support council meetings and cameras”, but members of council said it was labelled incorrectly. The position would also help generally with IT and backfill help desk requests.

Some councillors mentioned that the live broadcasting of council meetings enhanced accountability and accessibility.

“To me, this is making the municipal level of government more accessible to 100,000 people in Kamloops,” said Councillor Mike O’Reilly.

“The amount of local media coverage we’re getting for people who can’t make it here… it’s great for the public to be aware of what’s going on.”

The City will also hire a temporary Equity, Diversion and Inclusion (EDI) coordinator.

The City will apply for a grant to fund this position, but if the grant is not successful then funding will all be from gaming reserves.

The position will be held for 18 months and help the city develop an EDI plan.

Lorne Street whistle cessation

Increased rail movements along Lorne Street have resulted in a higher number of train whistles and horns sounding as they pass through a residential area near downtown. Residents have requested the city start the process to stop the noise from the train.

This project would cost $1.2 million, due to the need to increase safety around the crossing by adding bells and arms. Marvin Kwiatkowski, director of development, engineering and sustainability, said that grants could cover a portion of the cost. The City would also need to purchase some land to make the safety changes.

Staff admitted that the plan was a little too bare-bones to vote on and the City instructed staff to consider funding options and report back. They also moved to invite representatives from CN Rail to visit council to discuss this issue.

Parks and recreation

The city approved putting $900,000 towards a new accessible and inclusive playground in Riverside Park as well as $350,000 towards upgrades to smaller parks in communities.

The new accessible Riverside Park playground would be similar to the one built recently in MacArthur Island.

There was more support in online feedback for upgrades to smaller community upgrades, rather than for a new accessible playground and Riverside Park.

$80,000 from the gaming reserve will go towards improving Norbrock Stadium for the North Paws baseball team.

The Kamloops Tennis Centre (KTC) requested the City resurface some tennis courts that are in “extremely poor condition”. The KTC will contribute $50,000 towards the project and is asking for $175,000 from the City. Council approved this request.

There was a community request from the Kamloops Beach Volleyball Club (KBVC) to increase the number of washrooms at Overlander Park.

KBVC will contribute $30,000 for the project and is asking the City for $325,000. KBVC said this facility could help attract provincial and national tournaments to the area.

The City approved the request from KBVC.

There was a budget item to develop a plan for urban wildlife management, funded by the gaming reserve and it was approved.

A new mausoleum was approved. The City will pay to have it built but, like all cemetery services, it will pay for itself once the new facilities starts selling niches and crypts.

Rejected items

An item on the list was a one time bill of $160,000 funded from gaming to buy exterior lighting for City Hall. This type of lighting has been used to acknowledge and celebrate events.

Online feedback was mostly against the lights, saying it would be “nice to have” but this is the wrong year to implement it.

Also, city administrators put together an estimate of what it would cost to improve the Wifi access in city buildings. After discussion, the City decided not to improve the Wifi.

Council will finalize the budget over the coming weeks.

by Stephanie Swensrude

Kamloops council settles on 4.92 per cent tax increase, approves supplementary budget items

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